Faith Tabernacle Church

Last week, I mentioned that the aim of this small church in Clanton is to focus on answering Jesus’ prayer in John 17 for unity of the saints. Many well-meaning Christians continue to promote division among God’s saints by failing to differentiate between certain views that have contributed to a breakdown of unity among God’s people. Paul pleaded with the Ephesians to stay united (Ephesians 4:3). He also encouraged the Christians in Rome to “Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God” (Romans 15:7). Since God accepted these believers with imperfection in their lives and in their knowledge, Paul called upon them to exercise that same kind of love and forbearance with their fellow Christians. Aren’t you glad that God doesn’t save us based on how much we know about the Bible or spiritual things? If he did, most of us working folks would never even get close to heaven. Most of us rely on our pastors to feed us a healthy spiritual diet. Happily, the young person who is just beginning to learn about Jesus, and the old timer who has lived a life of sin and never opened a Bible before, are both just as saved as the person who has graduated from seminary. How? By putting their faith in Christ Jesus as their Savior, and turning their lives over to Him. It’s enough to make you holler, “Hallelujah!” To find us, go past Rolling Oaks Apartments on the right. Turn left on 14th Avenue (three blocks). Then turn left on Rollan Street. The church is on the left. Bible study and worship are at 10 and 11 a.m. each Sunday. For questions or prayer, call Randy Strattis at 755-7571. Everyone is welcome.

Walnut Creek United Methodist Church

Bro. Tony and Beth were away attending a funeral of a past member, and while we missed them a lot, their substitutes filled in admirably.

Time for the children was handled by Diane Handley with Taylor Hughes and Jenson Gore handing out “tricks and treats” as Diane explained that they can be nice to others and still have fun on Halloween.

I could not hear all the requests for prayer but Doris’ mother, Lurleen Varden, is in the hospital. Also remember Daryl Puckett’s dad, and Christine Smith.

Debra Florea brought the message inspired by the book, “Power of Words” by Robert Morris. She did great job inspiring us all. Words connect us to God; all those bad words that are said must be accounted for, but the good news is that through God’s grace, He can erase them all. Sometimes words we speak may have the power of life or death.

Words are so powerful, in fact, in the first few chapters of Genesis, God said some powerful words, thereby doing some powerful things.

Debra had lots of scripture references, including Genesis, Psalms 100, Proverbs 11:13, James 1:19 and Colossians 3:8. Good job, Debra.

The question was asked, “Do we think before we speak, think during speaking or think after we speak?”

Carolyn Hardy reminded us that Daylight Saving Time ends next Sunday. Remember to turn your clocks back. This would be a good time to start coming to Sunday School. How could you better spend this extra hour if you have not been in Sunday School?

Walnut Creek’s Fall Festival is Wednesday, Oct. 29 at 5:30 p.m.

This thing called Dow goes down, up a little, then down again. God is constant!

Oak Grove Church of God

Sunday at Oak Grove we had a music appreciation day celebration. We honored all our musicians but mainly our Choir Director Sue Cleckler. In a very short time under her leadership the Oak Grove choir has more than doubled in size and through her teaching ability many of us have learned to sing the harmony parts which some of us had not been able to do before. She has through her anointed leadership transformed our choir into a real benefit to our church as the harmonies that we are able to not carry out make us a much more effective part of worship of our Lord. She has worked tirelessly in her time here to help us to become a choir that truly worships God with an anointing that was not there before.

The church, choir and friends came together to celebrate this special occasion with gifts and testimonials for her dedication to not only Oak Grove but to other churches and singing groups. We had as our special guest, Gene Lowery and “The Samaritans” and we were greatly blessed by their singing. We were honored to have with us many of her family and friends who came to celebrate with us her dedication to God and to gospel music.

We want to wish a happy birthday to Gloyce Adams (Nov. 1).

We are so blessed of God at Oak Grove and we had several new people come join us in our Sunday worship services and we welcome them to be with us often. Oak Grove is a growing church as we have received new members into the church in recent weeks. To God be the Glory! We thank God for them and want them to know that we love them and welcome them into the fellowship of our church.

If you do not have a church home we invite you to come worship God with us and be a part of our church family at Oak Grove. Service times are: Sunday School at 10 a.m., worship service at 10:45, Sunday evening service at 5:30 and Wednesday night service at 7. We also have children’s church each Sunday.

Our church is easy to find. When you leave Clanton heading south on US 31 turn left at Peach Park and follow the signs to Oak Grove Church of God.

Center Hill Baptist Church

The weekly altar prayer call was led by Tracy Cobb. Tim Crist, minister of music and youth, led a short children’s sermon, then the children were led in Children’s Church by Amanda Varden.

Bro. Tim also brought the message this week. He spoke on Ephesians 4:1-16, explaining the need for the Body of Christ to really live and function as just that. He stressed that we need to live worthy of the calling of Christ and in unity within our local congregation, which is not always a unity of minds but should always be a unity of love. Disagreement is healthy, but bickering is unhealthy. Do we respect each other enough to disagree without breaking fellowship?

Bro. Tim also discussed that unity is found in collectively seeking God’s will, not our own; that personal will causes dissension, and dissension glorifies Satan. So if we are the Body of Christ, there must be unity within the whole church. Do we move as one, according to the Head, or do we move as we individually desire?

Jackson Chapel

“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33).

If we are the Christians that we should be, we should be the most loving and most compassionate people of anybody. We should have a desire to serve Jesus and be willing to humble ourselves before him. If there is anything in our life that hinders us from serving God, we need to pray and ask God to remove that from us so we can be the Christians we need to be. We’ve got to hold on to Jesus when times are good and when times are bad to be able to receive our rewards in heaven.

The service ended with several coming to pray.

Sunday evening Bro. Dennis has such a special anointing in his singing and preaching, so we at Jackson Chapel are truly blessed to have him and his precious wife as part of our church family.

The service ended with everyone gathering around to pray for our pastor and his wife, each other that we would always have unity, for our upcoming election, for our lost loved ones and for our service men and women.

We are located at 4020 Yellowleaf Road in Clanton. Our service times are as follows: Sunday School at 10, morning worship at 11, evening worship at 6, and Wednesday night prayer meeting and Bible study at 7. We also have Kid’s Club on Wednesday nights at 7 for grades 1-6.

Mt. Carmel Baptist Church

This Sunday morning was a blessing. Bro. Lynn Roe’s sermon was about stumbling blocks. There are seven major stumbling blocks that can keep someone from becoming a Christian. 1) Discord in the Church. Acts 1:14, 2:1,46 tells us the church should act in one accord.

2) Carnal Christians. 1 Corinthians 3:3 tells Christians to be different. 3) Defeated Christians. Ephesians 5:18 states Christians should rejoice and be happy in the Lord. 4) Backsliders. We lose our testimony when we backslide (Genesis 19:14). 5) False doctrines. 6. A cold, dead church. Revelation 3:1 describes a church without Christ. Churches should be open to outsiders, friendly, and truly worshiping. 7) The simplicity of the Gospel. Romans 10:9 tells us how simple it is to be a Christian, but some people just cannot accept that it is that easy.

Sunday night’s sermon was on how Christians should dress. We should dress ourselves daily by putting on the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 13:14), put on a new man (Ephesians 4:20-32), put on the Armor of Light (Romans 13:12), clothes with meekness and longsuffering (Colossians 3:12), put on humility (1 Peter 5:5,9) and put on love (Colossians 3:14).

Please pray for our revival Nov. 16-19 and come join us for our harvest festival Nov. 1 at 5 p.m.

Lime Springs United Methodist Church

Bro. Shannon brought the morning message from Philippians 4:4-7 on the importance of reducing stress in our lives. He reminded us of the medical problems often associated with stress and how Jesus never intended for us to be stressed. This is why He stated in Matthew 11:28-30 to “come to Him and find rest for our souls.” Paul listed four things we can do to reduce stress on a daily basis. First, we must find joy in all situations. Second, we must possess gentleness in our spirits, which in turn gives us peace. Third, we must trust in Jesus completely. Finally, we must exercise a daily prayer schedule like Daniel; morning, noon and night. Bro. Shannon closed the service with the results of following these four suggestions: “The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ.”

Happy birthday wishes go out to Danny Tignor.

We invite everyone to join us for worship at Lime Springs. Our Sunday school starts at 9:30 a.m.; morning worship at 11 a.m.; evening Bible study at 5:30 p.m. and Wednesday prayer meeting at 6:30 p.m. For more information, please call 755-4950 or 755-6356.

Mt. Carmel No. 1

Sunday we celebrated Pastor’s Appreciation day after Bro. Ricky finished his message with a lunch in the fellowship hall.

“Living in Sodom and Gomorrah” from Genesis 19:1-29 was the title of the morning message. The message goes along with the times we are living in today. There is a natural tension within us that will lead us down the road to destruction if we allow.

The fall festival is Saturday, Nov. 8 at Laura and Mark Jones’ home. We will have a hay ride, food, fellowship, games and fun. Please join us.

Bro. Ricky and Mrs. Belda’s second anniversary at our church will be celebrated on Nov. 9 with a breakfast at 9 a.m.

Please bring your filled shoeboxes by Nov. 23 for Operation Christmas Child. For more information contact Frances Higgins.

We will have our Thanksgiving Dinner Sunday, Nov. 23 at 5 p.m. Let us all come together and share this time giving thanks to God for all his blessings. Please bring a covered dish and join us in the fellowship hall.

Our Wednesday night services for November 26 have been moved to Tuesday, Nov. 25.

We will have out Hanging of the Green ceremony during morning worship on Sunday, Nov. 30. Please bring your favorite Christmas ornament to hang on the tree. The evening service we will have a Sunday Night Hymn Singing.

We would like to welcome all of our visitors from last Sunday. Please pray for everyone on our prayer list. If you don’t have a home church, come and make Mt. Carmel yours. We would love to have you!

Calvary’s Hill Church of God

“But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.” James 3:17.

Praise God for his many blessings. We had an awesome service, with a mighty move of the Holy Spirit. It’s wonderful to be fed by God’s word through preaching, but it’s also needful and very humbling to be in the presence of God, praising and worshipping him with all our heart. We thank God that Ricky Thomas was able to be in church Sunday and ask that you continue to pray for him. Also, please remember Joe Chandler, who is home from the hospital but still unable to be in church.

Sunday evening, Bro. John Bush said how we should not only be hearers of the word, but also doers of the word. God doesn’t call us to sit back and do nothing. We are to be witnesses to a lost and dying world.

We would like to welcome our visitors and pray they were blessed. Remember to pray for our leaders, military, pastors, the lost and the upcoming election. If you don’t have a home church, come join us. Sunday school starts at 10 a.m.; worship service at 10:45 a.m.; evening service at 5 p.m. and Wednesday night at 7 p.m., followed by a soup supper. The church is located on Ala. Hwy. 191, two miles outside Jemison.

Mount Bethel Baptist Church

“O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.” Psalm 96:9

Before our morning sermon we took time to honor our pastor who has ministered to our church for eight years. The love he shows us in so many ways we can never repay. We love him and appreciate him.

Rev. Oneal Cleckler’s morning sermon was from Luke 8:4-8 and 11-14. We all know the parable of the sower who sowed his seeds and some fell by the wayside. Those seeds were trodden down and the birds ate them. Some of the seeds fell on a rock and as soon as they came up they withered away because there was no moisture, and some fell among the thorns and the thorns choked them. Then, there were some that fell on the good ground and sprang up, and bore fruit a hundred fold. The four kinds of soil represent the four kinds of people who hear the gospel. Unresponsive people are represented by the seeds fallen to the wayside. They fail to respond to the seed or the word sown. Impulsive people are represented by the stony ground. They receive the gospel but have no spiritual reality in themselves. They believe for a while. Preoccupied people are represented by the thorny ground. They allow worldly things to take priority over the gospel. Some people, represented by the good soil, hear and receive into their hearts the gospel, which bears the fruit of faith, obedience and fidelity.

Our evening service was taken from Psalm 107:1-8. Verses 1-3 are a call to praise the Lord. Everyday we should give thanks to God. While wandering in the wilderness the Israelites thought everyday was getting worse. They did not understand they were just passing through on their way to the land God promised them, Canaan. God was with them day and night. We are just passing through on our way to a Heavenly home, one that we will share with Jesus, our Lord forever. We are His chosen.

We invite you to join us for worship and fellowship. Sunday school starts at 10 a.m.; morning worship at 11 a.m.; discipleship training at 5 p.m. and evening worship at 6 p.m.

Christ Independent Methodist Church

Today I awoke to get ready for church, and what a beautiful day to go I might add. We all got into the car to ride to church, and I was accompanied by my grandfather and my best friend Lisa Scruggs. My grandmother had just gotten back from her trip and could not attend.

Brother Mac started us out with prayer and then a few songs which were: “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” and “We Bring the Sacrifice “. Then as always he mentions the people we need to pray for. The prayer list this week includes: Randall Miller, Ken Osborne, Sarah McEwen, Harold, Andon, and also Gabe Smith. We were reminded to pray for the president, our country and for the outcome of the upcoming election. Our activities for this week are: men’s fellowship at the Cracker Barrel at 6 pm Tuesday night and on Wednesday night Bible Study at 6:45 pm.

Brother Mac preached from Mathew 22:34 today and talked about how we should love God with all of our heart, mind, and soul. He mentioned how we should love our neighbors like we love ourselves and that it can be done from afar or right next door. Dr. Mac tells how we all should love another, but not the Los Angeles type of love but agape love which means “godly love” and I believe that is so true. The parable that Dr. Mac preached from said that Jesus and the Pharisees had a conflict because a woman had had seven husbands and all had died, and they asked Jesus if there would be marriage in heaven and he told them that marriage would not be needed when you have the love of God. The first commandment clearly states to love God with all your body, mind, and soul. Brother Mac asked the question “how can we love God and our neighbor”. He replied with an answer and said, “We need to love our neighbor like we love ourselves but love God like he loves us.” Brother Mac preached a very excellent sermon today and we invite anyone who would love to come and attend, we would love to have you.

Bethsalem Baptist Church

Bro. Brad preached on making Jesus the center of our lives. His message was entitled “Truth, the Gospel Truth, and Nothing But the Truth” (Colossians 1:1-8).

The evening message was from 2 Samuel 12, the story of David and Nathan. Special music was presented by Joyful Noise.

Prayer list: Gilbert Green, Christy Harmon, Kim Hicks, Lois Blalock, Joyce Moore, Meade Bryant, Susan McCary, Arthur Cooedy, Cleo Pack, Andrea Deneke, Paul Powell, Vera Franches, Bertha Headley, Brandon Ward, Mary Ann Messer, Jennifer Gray, James Thomas, Chad Glipson, T.J. Cox, Peggy Nelson, Hilda Allen, Marty Price, presidential election.

The Brotherhood Breakfast is next Sunday. Don’t forget to move your clocks back one hour tonight.

Everyone have a blessed week. Remember, God is so good. Share Jesus with someone this week.